Something as Simple as That
by Viva La Vostra Vita
Summary: Gaara just likes the simple things - it's a pity life is hardly ever like that. Screwing with your friends love lives isn't exactly helpful. Multiple pairings: NejiGaara, SasuNaru - yaoi.
1. The Simple Things

Alright, so this is my next attempt at a story. This will almost definitely have multiple chapters. Give me some time though, because I'm slow with ideas. I really have no idea where this came from, but it wouldn't leave me alone, so I had to write it down. And then it wound up here.

Anyway, there are several pairings in here, most of which are gay. I really don't care if you don't like this kind of thing - no one is forcing you to read it. If you do like it, however, reviews and constructive criticism are welcome. I know I'm not a stellar author, but I like to think that I'm better than some.

Details:  
Pairings - NejiGaara, SasuNaru, ShikaKiba, KakaIru, LeeSaku, ChoujiIno, and ShinoHina (the last three aren't mentioned much, don't worry)  
Rating - T for now, but I'm pretty sure it'll be moving up. I just have to see if I can write a decent lemon. -crosses fingers-  
Disclaimer - I don't own this. Obviously. If I did, all the male characters would be doing depraved things to one another for my entertainment, and the females would be burning somewhere.

Prologue

"Gaara? I'm home..."

The words played over and over again in my head. By nature, I'm cynical, I know that. I never needed or wanted the usual romantic things relationships entailed. They all seemed fake and unreal. I preferred the unusual. The random, spur-of-the-moment, unique things that made whatever _this_ was, special.

So why did something, so ordinary, so everyday, so _simple_, have such an effect on me? Maybe it was the fact that no one had ever seemed to want to come back to me before. Or maybe it was the fact that Neji considered me - _me _- to be something worth coming back to. A home. And it made me _happy_. Something as simple as that.

* * *

Something As Simple As That

It was dark when my alarm went off that morning. I was torn between discovering the cause of the lack of light and turning the damned alarm off. The rise in volume from said _satanic!_ object made the decision for me. I eyed it coldly, wondering if shooting it would be considered an over-reaction. Maybe. Closing my eyes, I blindly threw an arm out, groping for the off button that would end the assault on my senses. In doing so, I knocked a stack of...something...off my nightstand.

Dragging myself out of bed, I bent to retrieve whatever it was. It turned out to be a stack of photo's taken at a party the week earlier. The topmost picture was one of a small red-head with bright green, kohl rimmed eyes smirking at the camera. He was wrapped around a taller boy with long brown hair, pale silver eyes and delicate features.

The red-head was me. And the brunette was my boyfriend, Neji. Yes, you heard correctly. My boyfriend. I'm gay.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a complete flamer - I don't shit rainbows at least - but nothing about females has ever really done it for me. Anyway, I continued to flip through the rest of the photos. There were several more of Neji and I, as well as some of the other couples, and groups of all our friends.

A boom of thunder pulled me out of my daze, and simltaineously answered the question of the darkness. It made me happy at least. Days like this had always been my favorite. Standing up and stretching, I grabbed a pair of jeans out of a pile, yanked the studded belt from the pair I'd worn the day before, and randomly selected a t-shirt out of an open drawer.

Once out of my room, I headed down the hall and sped through a shower and the other menial daily things everyone goes through to get ready. As I returned to my room to grab one of the photo's I wanted to give back - I didn't really want to keep the picture of Shikamaru and Kiba sucking face - memories washed over me, as they'd always had a habit of doing. I knelt by the bed and let them take me.

xxx

It was three years and six months to the day since Sasuke left for that exclusive private school in some remote part of the country. Ever since, Naruto hadn't been the same. Of course there were days you could hardly tell the difference, but the old, always hyper-active blond had disappeared. And I didn't think it was just him growing up. It happened much too quickly for that to be the case. And besides, it was right after Sasuke Uchiha left. I don't believe in coincidences. I guess my point is, after Sasuke left, Naruto was different. And not in a good way. I didn't really miss the hyper-activity, but it was kind of unsettling for the blond to be so quiet for such long periods of time.

One good thing to come out of Sasuke's departure was that we didn't have to deal with Sakura or Ino or any of the other rabid fan-girls much any more. Once they figured out Sasuke didn't speak to us either, they basically stopped following us around. On the other hand, there's Naruto. Like I said before, the blond was different after Sasuke left, and if was just because they were 'best friends' then I would go on a date with Lee.

The blond was obviously, painfully, head-over-heels in love with the raven-haired asshole. Gods only know why. Apart from being drop dead gorgeous, the boy had almost no redeeming qualities. I guess Naruto saw something though. That was his talent after all.

But I digress.

So, three years and six months to the day since the Uchiha left, he turns up out of nowhere. At _my_ door no less. At two in the fucking morning. Needless to say, I was not pleased to see him.

"What the fuck is your problem, Uchiha?" I growled.

He smirked at me. Asshole.

"No one else was home. I went to Kakashi-sensei's house first, but no one answered. And I don't really want to talk to anyone, so I came here instead."

"I'm flattered, really, but it's late, if you hadn't noticed, and I was trying to sleep." I was too tired to deal with this. I didn't know how to tell him that Kakashi was now living with Iruka, or that what he really needed to do was go see Naruto. I was never very good with words. All I knew was that he needed to leave before Neji woke up. I was not ready for those introductions quite yet.

I ran a hand over my tattoo and through my already messy hair. "Uchiha, go somewhere else. I don't want you here, but I can think of several people who would love to know you're back. Not the least of whom is Naruto."

I watched in amusement as a mixed look of desperation, sadness, fear and longing crossed the bastard's face. So, he liked the hyper-active idiot as well? Interesting. And not my problem - I'd let them work it out for themselves, the same as all the other couples had done.

"I don't care about any of them, and I sure as hell don't want to see any of them. I just need a place to sleep for the night. I'll be gone by morning." He looked like he was about to bolt, and it was then I noticed that he was also dripping wet. My gaze shifted past him to the outside and watched the rain pour as I thought about my options.

"Fine. One night. You'll tell everyone you're back in the morning. And I'll grab you something dry. There's absolutely no way you're ruining my couch." He snorted and walked past me into the house, heading hurriedly for the linoleum in the kitchen. Better than nothing, I guess.

I crept silently into my, _our_, room and yanked a pair of Neji's flannel pajama pants out of a pile on the floor. I felt bad about giving the Uchiha something of Neji's, but I was much shorter than both of them, while they were relatively the same height.

Exiting the room as silently as I'd entered, I tossed the pants in the Uchiha's direction. He caught them, held them up, and looked at me for a moment.

"Wishful thinking, Gaara?" He smirked. I scowled in return.

"No. Put your wet things in the sink or something, just don't leave them on the floor. There should be a blanket on the couch already. Just stay there - don't go wandering around." I turned on my heel and stalked off in the direction of the bedroom. I almost made it too, but then his slow drawl sounded behind me.

"So, you and Neji? Never saw that one coming. From him at least - I always knew you were a flamer." I ground my teeth and mentally kicked myself. The Uchiha was observant. And a genius. How did I think he wouldn't figure it out? Don't ask me why I didn't want the Uchiha to know about our relationship - everyone else did - but I didn't. Maybe I just wasn't ready to be mocked by the hypocritical asshole.

I flipped him the bird and closed the bedroom door behind me. Looking across the room at the rain pouring down on the opposite side of the window, my gaze dropped to the figure on the bed below it. Neji was still on his side, long hair splayed around him, blankets resting dangerously low on his hips. I could see the silhouette of the trail of hair that led down below the blankets, and I knew he was still naked from our 'activies' earlier that night. I rubbed my ass at the memory.

Crossing the room quickly, I crawled under the covers and curled up next to him, my head tucked below his chin. I twirled a strain of his hair in my fingers, and he murmured appreciativly before pulling me closer. I sighed and closed my eyes. I needed to sleep, if I was going to deal with the drama that was sure to come the next day.

xxx

I woke up that morning to a lot of shouting and crashing...and what sounded like shattering glass. _Shit_. I stumbled out of bed, tripped over the blankets that were pooled on the floor at my feet and launched myself through the doorway.

What I found was chaos. Neji had Sasuke pinned to the wall by his neck. The end table at the side of the couch was overturned, and a glass that had apparently been resting on top had shattered all over the floor.

Neji noticed me standing there, and turned slightly to talk to me.

"Morning Gaara. Look who decided to drop in." I shifted uneasily. Those two had never really gotten along. And coming from me, that was saying something.

"Yeah, I know. He turned up in the middle of the night. It was pouring rain, so I let him sleep on the couch." I directed a glare at the Uchiha, who was slowly turning blue. "He was just leaving."

Said Uchiha made an impolite gargling noise, and managed to give me his patented glare of death. I still like to think that mine is more frightening.

"Neji, I think you might want to let him down now. I'm not really up to dealing with Naruto if you kill him." Uchiha looked panicked - as usual - at the mention of Naruto's name, and Neji released him; sending him crashing to the floor.

Uchiha stood gracefully, and turned away from Neji, towards me. He was opening his mouth to say something - most likely impolite - when the front door slammed open. Standing in the doorway was Lee, twinkling in the weak morning sun. Oh God, it was too early for this. I made break for the door, intent on pushing Lee back out and slamming said door shut, when he noticed Uchiha, staring wide-eyed at the scene. Oh God.

I grabbed Neji and waited for the explosion.

"Sasuke! You are back! Oh, this is wonderful! Just wait until I tell Naruto and Sakura! They will be so happy to know that you are back!"

Uchiha was staring open-mouthed at Lee. Apparently, he had forgotten how obnoxious he could be. Lucky bastard.

Lee didn't appear to notice the tense atmosphere, and continued to babble; as per usual.

"...and even though I am over-joyed at your safe and youthful return, Sasuke, Sakura is no longer yours. That is right - I, Rock Lee-"

We sadly didn't get to hear anything more about Sakura and him - mores the pity - because I'd finally lost patience with the obnoxious teen - it never seemed to take long - and had shoved him out the door. Kindly of course. I turned around after locking the door - and shoving the kitchen table in front of it for good measure - and found Neji standing over a very dazed looking Uchiha. The raven-haired boy blinked slowly.

"You know, I'd actually managed to forget how irritating he was. But it sounds like a lot changed after I left. Is there anything else I should know about?"

I was all for letting him figure everything out for himself - more entertainment for me and mine - but Neji decided to be _nice_ for once. Figures.

"Of course things changed Uchiha. Did you expect everyone to stop and wait for you to come back?"

Okay, so it was Neji's own special kind of 'nice'. Still... Uchiha's mouth dropped open and his eyes darkened. Seemed like he still had the old temper. I, on the other hand, smirked and added my own comment.

"Well, actually, that's exactly what your fan-club planned on doing. They were even writing letters of protest. I think there were a couple marriage proposals, too, actually." Neji broke in: "At least until you told them all he was gay, you mean."

Neji smirked at Uchiha and then at me. I smirked back and tried to figure out if I could use him as a body shield - Uchiha had the old _'Kill! Kill!' _look in his eyes again. In the past, I could've beaten him - most of the time at least - but he'd gotten much taller over the years, and I...hadn't. Either way, I didn't really feel like testing anything this early in the morning. Hell, the only reason I usually had to be conscious at this hour was if Neji and I were going at it.

Sensing all this - because he's a genius and amazing - Neji decided to get on with the update and save my life in the process.

"After you left and the fan-girls got over it, a lot of people got together. Took some of them a while, but anyway. Lee finally bagged Sakura - poor bastard - Ino's is with Chouji - we know, we were all surprised too - and Shikamaru and Kiba are both together. Hinata's with Shino, too, and Kakashi is...dating...Iruka."

At this, Uchiha's eyes widened considerably, and I was thankful Neji had chosen to use 'dating' instead of 'molesting'. I didn't really want to have to deal with a dead body at the moment.

After a few seconds, Uchiha's eyes returned to normal and he cleared his throat, continuing like nothing had happened.

"And I guess there's you two as well. But you haven't said anything about the Dobe." I didn't miss the hopeful expression on his face, and I doubted Neji did either. This could be potentially entertaining.

I picked up where Neji left off.

"Naruto? Well, he's not with anyone-"

Instant relief flashed across his face, though you could tell he thought he'd hidden it well.

"He was pretty depressed after you left though. Kept talking about going after you; bringing you back home. But that stopped after a while. He's pretty mad at you now, if you want to know the truth." The look on the Uchiha's face said that he didn't. "A lot of people are pissed, actually. Naruto stopped laughing after you left."

Alright, so that was a bit of an exaggeration - and a cruel one at that - but it was worth it for the pained, guilty expression that settled into the Uchiha's eyes. Besides, he deserved it - Naruto _had _been hurt by Uchiha's departure. And Naruto was a friend - an annoying one but a friend just the same. I exchanged a glance with Neji, and saw that he agreed with me. Lets see if they could do this with minimal help from us.

I was not hopeful.

And that's it for the moment. I hope you liked it, or even had something to say about it. Anyway, reviews are love, and I'll try to get the next chapter up sometime in the (not so) near future.  
Kisses...


	2. Breaking Down the Walls

Alright, so here's the second chapter. I'm pretty sure it kinda sucks, but it's better than nothing. There's even a...um, what's below a lime? An orange I guess. Either way, there's some kissing/grinding going on. Not much though, don't get your hopes up. That's coming though, I just have to do more 'research.' The things I do for my legions of fans. -snorts-

Anyway, there's more angst-y drama crap going on in this chapter, cause they're all emotional retards. And I need to find a way to give Neji more lines. So here it is, and I'm pretty sure I'm half-way done with this - only two more chapters, tops. Tell me what you think, or if you see anything that needs fixing.

Disclaimer: Are the boys screwing each other senseless on every availeable surface? Is Sakura on fire? No? Then I don't own it. Damn.

* * *

xxx

Making the rounds was even less fun than I'd anticipated. The fan-girls were, of course, deliriously happy at the Uchiha's return - at least judging by all the attempted rapes - and the rest of them seemed reasonably pleased that he'd return outside of a body bag.

But there were a few..._note-able _exceptions. First was Lee. Most disturbingly, he chose the 'overjoyed fangirl' route and wrapped the startled man in a bone-crushing hug almost as soon as the door was open. You'd think he'd have toned down his reaction, given that he'd already seen the Uchiha. Maybe he was going crazy.

There was also the horrifying visit to Kakashi and Iruka-sensei's apartment. Apparently, Kakashi wasn't in the habit of wearing clothing. Don't get me wrong, he's an attractive man, but I never needed to see that much of him. Thankfully, Uchiha had been so stunned by the..._nakedness_ that he didn't really comment on their relationship and we could leave quickly with minimal trauma. Thank God for small favors.

With everyone else out of the way, there was no more putting off the inevitable. As we got closer to our final destination, I could feel the Uchiha tense up at my side. I ignored this and looked up at Neji, who met my gaze. Without saying anything, it appeared that he agreed with my prediction: this was not going to end well. The closer we got to Naruto's apartment, the slower the Uchiha walked. Dumb bastard. He wasn't getting out of this.

Sighing, I reached my hand out and laced by fingers with Neji's. He looked down at me, pale eyes ever-so-slightly wider than they usually were. After all, I wasn't usually demonstrative. But I was stressed beyond reason - I was still very bad with most prolonged human interaction - and I needed this small bit of comfort. Wordlessly, Neji squeezed my fingers, and I returned the gesture.

After what seemed to be an agonizing eternity - for all of us I'm sure - we finally wound up at Naruto's door. As I reached out to knock, I noticed that the Uchiha looked unnaturally pale. Oh, this was going to be a fucking _mess._

The door opened, and I had the momentary impression of bright blue eyes and vibrant yellow hair before I was shoved uncerimoniously to the side.

xxx

The instant Naruto saw the Uchiha standing on his doorstep, he'd practically fallen over himself in an effort to get closer to him. He'd immediately wrapped the other boy in a tight hug, and had buried his face in the jet black hair. It would have been funny if I couldn't predict how this would end.

For an instant, just one fleeting second, the Uchiha looked...peaceful; _happy _even. And then it all went to hell. His face darkened, and he shoved Naruto off him viciously.

"What the fuck are you doing, Dobe?" The Uchiha was scowling down at the blond in front of him, who was still too over-joyed to care. Without another word, he seized the Uchiha's hand and dragged him inside. Neji and I barely made it through before the door slammed.

Inside, Naruto was talking a mile a minute, alternately asking questions, ordering the other boy around or adding snippets of what he himself had been doing in the Uchiha's absense. In other words, making a complete fool of himself.

Surprisingly, the Uchiha seemed to be tolerating it well. At least, Naruto was still alive. After nearly a half hour of non-stop chatter, Naruto finally calmed down enough for somebody else to speak themselves. Of course, it was Uchiha, so maybe that wasn't a good thing...

"My God Dobe, haven't you grown up at all? It's been nearly four years and you're still acting like a hyper-active kid." At the cold tone in the Uchiha's face, Naruto's smile shrank a few molars, though he still managed to beam as brightly as before.

"Naw, I'm not usually like this. I'm just excited you're back, is all. I- _we _all really missed you, you know Teme?" When the black-haired asshole only replied with his signature 'hn', however, Naruto's good mood vanished.

"What the fuck, bastard? You run away for three years without hardly saying goodbye to anyone and then act all pissed off when people are happy to see you. What did you expect? We're all happy to see you again - we _missed _you..." Once again, the Uchiha's voice was cold and indifferent to this display of emotion.

"You think I care? I didnt ask them to miss me. I never did anything to make them think I cared about any of them. Or you for that matter."

Naruto's eyes widen, and filled with a deeply hurt look as his fists clenched at his sides. I nudged Neji with my elbow, and he began to surreptitiously move behind Naruto in a position to grab the blond idiot if this degenerated into a fist-fight.

"How can you act like that? We were worried about you, we didn't even know exactly where you were, and then you come back here and get mad when people assume you cared!"

"Hn. Like I said, that's not my problem. And what have I ever done that would make you think that I _cared_?" Naruto looked at him helplessly, and from my position behind the Uchiha, I silently begged him not to say it. Didn't he know how it would end if he fell in love with someone like Sasuke?

"I just said- You _came back_. And I missed you and _I _care about _you_ and I thought you- I just- Look bastard, I love you alright? If you're such a genius shouldn't you have figured it out by now?" Oh God. I braced myself for the reaction that I was sure would be akin to an atomic bomb. Even from my place behind him, I could imagine the other boy's sneer.

"You _love _me, Dobe? Is that it? God, that's the most fucking pathetic thing I've ever heard. And what, Naruto, did you expect me to return that ridiculous sentiment? You actually thought I'd love someone like you? You're pathetic and weak."

For an instant, anger and hatred flashed in Naruto's eyes and he lunged forward, prompting Neji to grab him around the middle and me to hold the Uchiha's arms to prevent him from retaliating. Then, as quickly as it had come, then anger and fight left him and he slumped forward in Neji's grip. And even after all that, I still wasn't prepared for Naruto's reaction.

"Sasuke, _please_..." My body froze, but my eyes flew up to meet Neji's, and they reflected my horror. Naruto was _crying_. Shit, this wasn't supposed to happen. It shouldn't have been this difficult. I did understand the Uchiha's..._Sasuke's_ reluctance, his fear of this - we had the same fear of intimacy after all - but he was supposed to be smart. He should have been able to work this out. He should have known the words. But I guess he was more fucked up than we realized.

At the sound of Naruto's broken voice, he'd tensed and relaxed beneath my hands, muscles straining forward towards the blonde and then going limp again. My mind was racing, trying to figure out how to fix this before either of them made it worse for themselves. Who knew they were both so bad with words?

Naruto looked up, ignoring the fact that there was anyone else in the room besides Sasuke, and locked eyes with him. His massive blue eyes were full of tears, and one had escaped, making it's solitary path down his cheek. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Sasuke watch the tear; following it's course down the blonde's face as it came to rest at the corner of his mouth.

All I could think to do was to leave them alone. Maybe if it was just Naruto, Sasuke would be able to say what he needed to. Or at least articulate the general idea. I saw a part of myself in the black-haired boy - he had the same hang ups I did, concering feelings and other people. That still didn't change the fact that I hated him, of course. But, if he was as like me as I thought, there was only going to be one person he'd be able to really open up to, and, if history was any indication, that person was going to be Naruto.

I signaled to Neji with a small jerk of my head, and he released Naruto's waist and backed away. Without his support, Naruto sank slowly to the ground, as though he was falling through mollasses. I let go of Sasuke's arm myself and took a step back. He didn't make any movement, either towards or away from the boy on the floor. The only indication he gave that he knew what was happening, was a glance down at him. It was slow and mostly analytical, but given the circumstances and the people involved I guess it was progress.

I moved slowly towards the door, glancing back at Neji and slowly left the apartment.

xxx

A few moments later, he joined me in leaning against the wall in the alley behind the building. With a sigh, he raked a hand through his hair, dislodging the loose ponytail and setting the long strands free. He looked down at me and raised an eyebrow.

"That could have gone better." I fought back the urge to snort. I _do not_ snort. Turning him slightly with my hands, I considered what he'd said.

"It could have gone a _hell_of a lot better. But considering who they are, it could have also been much worse." I raked my hands through Neji's hair, slowly massaging his scalp and tying it up once again. Neji hummed quietly, whether in response to my words or my actions, I wasn't sure.

"You're right, I suppose. Still, at this rate, they're never going to figure anything out." It was my turn to hum. "Actually, they're going to have to."

Neji turned slightly and craned his head over his shoulder to look down at me. "What did you do, Gaara?" I smirked up at him.

"Nothing really. Just locked the door from the outside. They're not getting out until whoever has the key opens the door." I waved said object in front of lavender eyes and watched the smirk - _I taught him that _- spread across his lips.

"This could actually be a very good idea. But it will still take them a while. And we can't leave them completely alone..." He focused those eyes on me, and I could see something sparking in them. "What should we do to pass the time?"

At this, I couldn't restrain my grin. "Hm, I can think of one or two things..." Instead of elaborating, I wound my arms around his waist and pressed my face into the back of his neck, inhaling his distinctive scent.

Neji turned in my arms, wrapping his own around me as well, and pressed his forehead to mine. He looked at me - studied me - and then pressed his lips gently to mine.

As always, my heart started to race and my breath caught in my throat. I had actually planned on listening at the door to make sure that those two didn't kill each other, but I wasn't about to complain about this alternative.

xxx

In a smooth motion, he had turned us around, backing me towards the building wall and simultaneously slipped his tongue between my lips, pressing me insistently against the wall as we reached it.

God, this was fantastic. The day had been so incredibly stressful for both of us - neither of us are very good with emotion - and we would take anything we could get. So what if it would wind up being against the dingy wall? We'd done it in far stranger places.

As Neji's tongue delved deeper into my mouth, he pressed me even harder into the wall while curling his hands around my hips and lifting me up. Instinctively, I wrapped my legs around his own hips, and used them to pull him even closer.

One of my hands was scrabbling down the front of his shirt, searching for the hem, while the other fisted in his long hair and tugged fiercely in exactly the way I knew he loved.

He groaned against my lips and sank his teeth into my lower lip in retaliation. My hips bucked against his involuntarily, making us both moan, and I repeated the action instantly, grinding down harder this time.

I had just managed to get his shirt open and my fingertips on his bare skin - his words from the first time we'd had sex ringing in my ears as they always did now, _Skin gets in the way - _when a loud crash sounded from above our heads. _Dammit._

xxx

Disentangling myself from Neji and rearranging his shirt in the same move, I made a break for the stairs with Neji following closely behind. As we reached the door at the top of the stairs, I fumbled the key from my pocket and shoved it in the lock.

The door slammed open and we both rushed in. As we rounded the corner leading from the kitchen to the living room, I heard something that didn't sound exactly like fighting.

Fully rounding the corner and stopping in the doorway, I was confronted with the sight of two shirtless, sweaty boys and an overturned chair. Oh. Well, that would explain the crashing. It was nice to see that they'd finally gotten their act together - faster than I'd guessed even - but I could've done without hearing Naruto make _that _particular noise.

They were both spread out on the beat up couch, Sasuke covering most a Naruto's body with his, though one of Naruto's legs made a reappearance draped across the Uchiha's back. I had no doubt as to what they were doing - I'd been in that position more times than I could count. I grabbed Neji's hand once again, and was trying to back out as quietly as possible when the damn Uchiha noticed us. Shit. Shitshitfuckshit.

His eyes fixed on us and widened comically. Below him, Naruto hadn't noticed anything - go figure - and was still arching, trying to get the Uchiha to continue his work on his neck.

The Uchiha - _Sasuke_- seemed frozen for an instant, as he tried to decide what to do. As always, he chose the wrong thing. With a grunt, he sat up and shoved Naruto off the couch to the floor. Naruto looked up at him in hurt amazement, until he followed the dark gaze to us.

He immediately turned an interesting shade of red, and his hand flew up to palm the back of his neck in that unique way of his. His mouth opened to start framing all manner of excuses, before Sasuke reached out and backhanded him.

"Shut up dobe. You'll only make this worse." His voice was as cold as it ever was, but this time it was laced with something else as well. _Terror?_

"This was nothing. It was a mistake. Coming back was a mistake. I will be gone in the morning." He got up stiffly and shoved past us to the door. Before he could get very far though, Naruto was up off the ground, grabbing Sasuke's forearm and slamming him into the wall next to the door.

I raised a thin eyebrow at Neji. _The fuck was going on here?_He shrugged his shoulders and cautiously moved closer to the two men, trying to get into a better position to grab one, if things got worse. I followed his lead from the other side.

I quickly replayed those few sentences back in my head. He said he'd be gone in the morning, made a point of it, even. Possibly he wanted somebody - Naruto - to stop him? I knew he cared deeply for the blond idiot, that was obvious even to a child. So why was he running? He had everything he should want. God this was going to be difficult. I turned my attention back to the 'little' scene in front of us and hoped against hope it would somehow work itself out.

Naruto was making a complete fool of himself, babbling nonsense and pleas into the Uchiha's neck, and I could only catch fragments. It was enough, though.

"Sasuke. Sasuke. Can't go. Won't let you. Missed you so much. Love you. Need to stay here. Me. Hurt when you left. _Cried_. Teme. Stay here. With me. Please Sasuke. I love you. _Please_."

God it was pathetic to watch. The blond idiot had wrapped himself around the dark haired boy and was crying silently into his neck. Oh God, Naruto was a wreck. This was exactly what I was afraid of happening. He wasn't strong enough to deal with this. Anything else, yes, but this was going to destroy him. I looked desperately at Neji and was met with my own shocked gaze. Shit.

And then, completely, suddenly, the Uchiha - _Sasuke _- relaxed. He tilted his head back against the wall and closed his eyes with a pained expression. Slowly - very, very slowly - he raised his arms and wrapped them around Naruto's waste, effectively pulling the smaller boy closer.

Naruto's sobs increased in volume as he tightened his arms around the Uchiha. In return, Sasuke tilted his head forward again, until his face was buried in the sunshine hair.

I nodded once to myself and made quickly for the door, knowing Neji would follow me. Once outside, I heaved a sigh, and allowed myself to lean into the strong figure standing next to me. Neji wrapped an arm around me, while the other ran through my hair. I was completely drained from this, and hated myself for it.

The arm shifted and wrapped around me waist. With a tug, he got me moving again; down the stairs and back through the streets to our own apartment.

xxx

Once back in the sanctuary of our own home, I sighed and ran a hand viciously through my already disheveled hair. Neji still didn't release his hold on my waist, and gently guided me to the bedroom.

I still had enough energy to pull me shirt off and collapse on the bed, but after that I lost all will to move.

The days events had worn down my defenses, and somehow opened me up to memories of my past. I could avoid thinking of them, remembering anything, when I wasn't tired and run down. But now, I was simply too tired to prevent them, and the washed over me, bringing the old feelings of hopelessness and depression back with them. I hated myself for letting this happen again.

Neji crawled into bed beside me, and pulled me over to lay almost on top of him.

"Gaara, don't do this to yourself. You're just tired, you don't need to be depressed. I'm here and it all worked out, you know that."

As he spoke, he was also running his fingers through my hair and down over my back, attempting to push the memories away. I think I loved him the most for doing that. I wished I didn't have to be like this ever, didn't have to remember. But somehow, Neji understood and didn't look down on me as being weak for it.

I was already calming down, pushing the memories back into that corner of my mind where they usually stayed as his arm slid down to drape possessively around my hips. Neji pulled me closer and wrapped his other arm around my shoulders, and in return, I nuzzeled my face into the crook of his neck, inhaling the scent of his hair.

As I was drifting away to whatever kind of sleep awaited me tonight, I heard him whisper into my hair.

"I love you, Gaara." I was too worn out to give my voice any strength, but I framed my response against his neck. '_Neji. Love you too._'

* * *

So there it is. I realize they were probably very OOC, Gaara especially, but I couldn't really help it. I'm operating under the assumption that his father was an abusive bastard and that would leave him with some very unpleasant memories he can't always repress. I kinda hate how fluffy it is at the end, but it wouldn't let me do anything with it.

And hopefully the next chapter will be up sooner. I have more of an idea of what I'd like to do with this one. Thanks to anyone who reviewed. You're more than welcome to do it again. -winkwink nudgenudge-

Ja ne


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